One of the things that united brands of all shapes and sizes over the past few months was the exodus towards capital D Delivery. When millions were sheltering-in-place, space got way more crowded than ever, which meant more competition for all existing delivery-based services, coming from all angles, including some of the world’s biggest brands.
When you look at it that way, then Blue Apron had a very good quarter is maybe not surprising, but it is still impressive.
The American recipe and meal kit service provides customers with all the ingredients needed to make cooking fun and easy just reported their quarterly earnings results. And things are looking good.
Blue Apron’s revenue increased by 10% in Q2, reporting better than expected results. The rise in online food delivery services due to the pandemic is the most logical reason for this surge as the brand reported 20K new subscribers onboard – but any time you face new competition and still beat expectations, it’s reason for a toast.
Hungry customers are looking for ways to stay socially distant while still enjoying high-quality food at home – and online food delivery services feed that demand.
The ways for such services to win over subscribers vary. But Optimove research shows that some food delivery brands acquire 87% of new customers through a promotion when placing the first order.
However, brands need to keep up the momentum through strong and healthy CRM marketing tactics beyond the pandemic – when coronavirus will be a thing of the past. Which is the challenge BA will be facing now. If they need any advice on delivering higher lifetime value on their new subscribers, Optimove’s blog has got them covered with some professional help.
“Throughout the second quarter of 2020, Blue Apron experienced a significant increase in demand for its meal kits largely due to changes to consumer behavior in response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” the company said.
Blue Apron offers contactless pickup options and thoroughly displays the safety measures and precautions they are taking in every operation step. Door Dash, Postmates, and Uber Eats are also promoting contact-free couriers to deliver goods locally – further encouraging this trend.
According to The Motley Fool, Blue Apron’s isn’t offering any meaningful ways to counter its larger rivals. And when the COVID-19 virus fades away, the question is, how will they remain a high performing company on the NYSE?
In the future, as we are one-third of the way into Q3, Blue Apron forecasts revenue of $112M vs. $102.9M consensus and Q3 net income loss of no more than $18M.
Marketing wise, we’ve seen many companies going the green/sustainable way recently, which is also meant to encourage subscribers to stay on the service. And thanks to its former COO and cofounder, BA also got its name associated with such initiatives right now.
It happened when Matt Wadiak’s Cooks Venture raised $10 million to further develop its new breed of chicken. The idea is to treat and feed birds better to support animal rights and create tastier food than what’s currently being sold. Perhaps this can be the company’s USP to maintain the momentum.
Data shows that approximately 70% of the total use of antibiotics globally are used in livestock. This makes it hard to trace whether what ends up being labeled organic is true. The way animals are fed and treated has been a controversial issue for years, especially now with the increasingly popular veganism movement.
Another two brands from the same food court, Burger King and McDonald’s, are bringing up a much-needed conversation to the table. BK will be adding lemongrass to what they feed their cows as it is supposed to reduce methane emissions by 33%. At the same time, McDonald’s in Austria moved from plastic to paper straws to fight human-caused climate change and they’ll recycle this extra plastic to create swimwear in McDonald’ s signature red and yellow colors.
Watch this space as we follow the delivery-wars in the future.